Month: June 2023

LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — A prosecutor says he will seek the death penalty for a 43-year-old Kansas man accused of killing his two sons before fleeing to Oklahoma. Leavenworth County Attorney Todd Thompson said Wednesday his office will pursue capital punishment for Donald Ray Jackson Jr., of Leavenworth. Jackson stood silently during his arraignment Wednesday

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers for former President Donald Trump say a $5 million jury award for his sexual abuse and defamation of a columnist in a department store dressing room in 1996 should be slashed to less than $1 million. The lawyers noted in a written submission Thursday that

By ALEXANDRA OLSON and WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS AP Business Writers NEW YORK (AP) — The hazardous haze from Canada’s wildfires is taking its toll on people whose jobs have forced them outdoors along the U.S. East Coast even as a dystopian orange hue led to the cancelation of sports events, school field trips and Broadway plays.

DEDHAM, Mass. (AP) — The prosecutor in the murder trial of a man charged with killing a Massachusetts police officer and an innocent bystander nearly five years ago told jurors in opening statements that the suspect acted with deliberation when he used the officer’s own gun to shoot him multiple times. The defense, however, on

MOSCOW (AP) — The co-chair of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning human rights group Memorial, Oleg Orlov, has gone on trial in Moscow, charged with “discrediting” the Russian military in his criticism of Russia’s war in Ukraine. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison. Orlov has been fined twice for anti-war pickets, with

By FRANK JORDANS Associated Press BONN, Germany (AP) — The United Arab Emirates official tapped to head the next global climate summit pledged Thursday to listen to young people demanding a place at the table when negotiators gather in the Gulf nation this fall. But in his first appearance at a United Nations climate meeting

DETROIT (AP) — A murder charge has been filed in another fatal shooting involving Detroit gas station clerks and customers. Police say Anthony McNary was shot through a door after the clerk had kicked him out of the gas station and then locked the door earlier this week. Just before the shooting, they had a

By DÁNICA COTO Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris has announced that the U.S. is investing more than $100 million in the Caribbean region to crack down on weapons trafficking, help alleviate Haiti’s humanitarian crisis and support climate change initiatives. The announcement was made ahead of an official

By MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has confirmed the highest-ranking Muslim official in the U.S. government. Dilawar Syed was confirmed Thursday as deputy administrator of the Small Business Administration in a 52-42 vote. Syed’s nomination had been delayed for more than two years. Republicans in the last Congress blocked Syed’s nomination

By KEN MILLER Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma City man who found a swastika cut into the grass in front of his home says he believes it was done by a neighbor with whom he has a long-running dispute. Stan Sells said Thursday that he was mowing when he discovered the swastika

By CURT ANDERSON Associated Press ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A white Florida woman charged with shooting and killing her Black neighbor told detectives that she called the victim’s children by racist slurs in the months leading up to the slaying, according to an arrest report released Thursday. Susan Louise Lorincz, 58, admitted to detectives

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Jack Swarbrick will step down as Notre Dame’s athletic director next year after a 16-year run in which he helped the school maintain the football program’s independent status amid an unprecedented flurry of conference realignment. Notre Dame says NBC Sports chairman Pete Bevacqua will succeed Swarbrick. Bevacqua will join the

By JESSICA GRESKO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday gave whiskey maker Jack Daniel’s reason to raise a glass, handing the company a new chance to win a trademark dispute with the makers of the Bad Spaniels dog toy. In announcing the decision for a unanimous court, Justice Elena Kagan was

By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — After years of criticizing mail voting and so-called ballot harvesting as ripe for fraud, Republicans at the top of the party want to change course. They are poised to launch aggressive get-out-the-vote campaigns for 2024 that employ just those strategies, attempting to match the emphasis on

By The Associated Press Racing at Belmont Park was canceled and the Washington Nationals’ home game against the Arizona Diamondbacks was postponed Thursday due to poor air quality from wildfires in Canada. It’s the second straight day the continuing fires north of the border have impacted sports in the Northeastern United States. Several Major League

By BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI Associated Press COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — A U.S. petroleum company has signed an agreement with Sri Lanka allowing it to import and sell fuel in the country as the Indian Ocean nation grapples with an economic and energy crisis. RM Parks Inc. signed the agreement in collaboration with Shell and will

MILAN (AP) — A special Italian court has shut down a probe into whether the country’s former premier and former health minister caused unnecessary deaths by failing to extend a lockdown zone in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. The Court of Ministers in Brescia threw out the case against ex-Premier Giuseppe Conte and

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania’s foreign ministry has informed Russia that it must reduce the number of its embassy positions in Bucharest by 51, bringing it in line with the size of Romania’s embassy staff in Moscow. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Thursday that because some of the jobs at the Russian Embassy are

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says Spain, Portugal and France are sending 280 firefighters to Canada. With smoke reaching Europe, the event is drawing attention from fire analysts as far afield as Spain. The Mediterranean country combats wildfires each summer and is bracing for a difficult summer amid a prolonged drought and record-hot

By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday issued a surprising 5-4 ruling in favor of Black voters in a congressional redistricting case from Alabama, with two conservative justices joining liberals in rejecting a Republican-led effort to weaken a landmark voting rights law. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Norwegian officials say the smoke from Canadian wildfires that has enveloped parts of the U.S. and Canada in a thick haze is expected to pour into Norway. Atmosphere and climate scientists with the Norwegian Climate and Environmental Research Institute used a forecast model to predict how the smoke would travel through

By GRANT PECK Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — A human rights organization says lawyers representing critics of Myanmar’s military government face harassment and attacks ranging from threats and arrests to unfair trials and even torture. Human Rights Watch says such actions reflect a broader assault on the country’s justice system. The group says at least

WINONA, Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota man has been arrested in connection with the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend, after a deputy found human remains in a rural area. Madeline Kingsbury, whose 27th birthday was June 1, was last seen on March 31 after dropping off her two young children at daycare in Winona, a southern